This week however we will be heading off to Vermont on Friday for a little getaway to celebrate our anniversary. We will be heading to Montpelier to see a nephew and his girlfriend. And hopefully a brewery or brew pub or two. I hear they may have some of those in Vermont.
So this week's beer blog is being posted on Wednesday.
Still we keep with the Vermont theme for this week's offering. Specifically Jinx from Magic Hat Brewing.
If you read the label or look it up online you see this is their rendition of a Scotch Ale. But if you needed to read that to figure it out there is something wrong with your taste buds. Or you've never tasted Scotch.
As you can see the beer is a dark brown color. The aroma was very subtle and it was hard to pick up on any particular flavor or scent from that.
The flavor however is not shy at all. The strong taste hits you with the first sip. There is a strong malty flavor and a slight piney component as well. But the overwhelming sensation is that of peat. Yes if you didn't know this was a beer and someone blindfolded you and handed you a glass of this and told you to take a sip - you could easily believe you were drinking Scotch.
There is the definite smoky, peat flavor of Scotch when you drink this brew. But you can definitely drink it faster than you can a Scotch. And probably have more of them as well and remain upright.
I've sample a number of Scotch Ales in my day, and enjoyed most of them. But I do not recall any of them resembling Scotch whiskey as much as Magic Hat's Jinx does.
If you like Scotch, you will like Jinx. If you don't like Scotch you will hate it.
I happen to like Scotch.
Jinx is too powerful to be an all night brew. But if you're having one, especially during cold weather, it is a fine selection.
I give Jinx 7 mugs out of 10.